Here's a funny story for you: years ago, I decided that I needed new bras, or at least bras that weren't meant for jogging.  I'm essentially flat chested, and for most of my adult life, I had been winging it with sports bras and camisoles, but when I got into graduate school and started teaching, I began to feel like I might need to wear a bra to class, you know, as part of being Grown Up.  Or at least as part of not looking like I was an undergrad any more.  

Of course, in order to buy a bra, I had to figure out what size I was.  Fortunately, Victoria's Secret had a handy-dandy on-line bra size calculator; at this point in time (in the early 90s) they were about the only web site that did.  So I carefully followed their directions and measured around my rib cage, and  added five inches; then I measured the largest part of my chest, and entered both of those numbers in the calculator.

And I got an error message.  Because CLEARLY I was measuring wrong.

So I did it again, and then I had a friend help, and every time it was the same: Victoria's Secret told me that there was no way those were my measurements.

So depressing.

(For the record, I was measuring correctly, at least according to those directions; Victoria's Secret just doesn't carry bras in my size.  Which is a bummer, because I know I'm not the only flat-chested grown-up woman out there.)

For years, I've been winging my bra size; I assume that I was a 32 A because those were the bras that (mostly) fit me the best.  And every few months I would measure myself, again, to see if I could get a more definitive answer, but I always came up with the same mathematical anomaly.

Until now!

Bare Necessities doesn't use the standard bra measuring method; they recommend measuring "under your arms, high on your back, across the top of your chest. If
this measurement is an even number, this is your band size. If an odd
number, add 1" to determine your band size."  Once you have that number, you measure "loosely around the fullest part of your bust. Next, subtract your band
measurement from your bust measurement; each inch represents a cup size."  And, for those of us who wear hard-to-fit sizes, they provide a chart, with specific cup sizes.  So if the difference between your band and cup measurements is less than one inch, as mine was, you wear a AA cup.

Guess what!  I'm not a 32A, I'm a 34AA!  Go figure.

The bra I ordered using these measurements fit perfectly -- I have honestly, in over 25 years of wearing a bra, NEVER had a bra that fit this well.  I have also never had any luck with in-person bra fittings; a local lingerie boutique carried only petite bras in cups smaller than a B, and the fitter at Nordstrom's in Chicago said, "Yes, you look like a 32A!" and then brought me a bunch of bras, which didn't fit at all -- you know, since I'm NOT a 32A.

If you don't have access to a really qualified bra fitter (and a sales clerk with a tape measure is NOT a qualified bra fitter) give the Bare Necessities method a try.  Next week, I'll tell you all about the bra I ordered from them and why I love it more than I love my children.  

Here's more information on bra fittings:

Style Advice Plus has tips for plus size bra fittings.

Alison, at Knickers Blog, goes to bra fitting school.  How fun!

And from the BlogHer archives comes this fabulous ILLUSTRATED post by Kristy Sammis about the importance of a properly fitted bra.  Illustrated, you all!  Excellent.